


love, they say

by SiderumInCaelo



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Ensemble Cast, Gen, Introspection, Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Translation Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 13:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16640783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SiderumInCaelo/pseuds/SiderumInCaelo
Summary: Each person makes a choice in the amphitheater.Spoilers forThe Crimes of Grindelwald; also available in Русский and 中文.





	love, they say

**Author's Note:**

> The title is taken from the Tegan and Sara song of the same name.
> 
> This fic is also available in [Русский](https://ficbook.net/readfic/7611351) and [中文](http://189116.lofter.com/post/1d5454f4_1c63d4f34). Many thanks to the people who translated it!

If asked, they would all give a different answer for why they made the choice they did, staring into Grindelwald’s blue flames, but in the end it all comes down to the same thing.

Credence thinks of the way Grindelwald, back when he’d borne a different name and face, had healed his cuts and whispered that he was special.  He thinks of the woman who raised him but didn’t love him, and how Grindelwald knows who his real family is.  Credence doesn’t trust Grindelwald, but he doesn’t trust anyone, and at least this way there’s a chance of belonging.

Nagini thinks of the cage she has only just left.  Grindelwald may say pretty words about freedom, but she knows that he, like everyone else, is only interested in what she can do for him.  She thinks of her body, another cage with its door slowly closing on her even now, and vows that it, along with her life, will be hers and only hers for as long as she can manage.

Jacob thinks of the war.  This Grindelwald spoke of ruling over no-majes, and Jacob knows that the first step to ruling someone is to go to war with them.  He thinks of the life he had before the war, of his nieces and nephews running around and his grandmother’s recipes, and he thinks of the world Newt and Tina and Queenie showed him, full of impossible creatures and beautiful spell work.  As far as Jacob is concerned, anyone who would drag both worlds into the horror of war, for the greater good or not, is crazy.

Queenie thinks of Jacob.  She had known he was the one the minute she looked inside his head and saw his delight for baking, his enthusiasm for the world around him, his stumbling, earnest thoughts of how pretty she was.  And she had also seen into enough guys’ minds to know just how special he was.  The life she wants isn’t remarkable – good food on the table, a loving husband by her side, kids with her hair and his nose running around – but Jacob is her one shot at it, and she will ally with anyone who will help her reach it.

Tina remembers being asked why she wanted to be an Auror and telling them “to help people.”  No matter how many times people told her she was being naïve, that she can’t save everyone, she’s never stopped trying, and she’ll be damned if she stops now.

Newt thinks of his creatures, and everyone else society maligns for being different, and knows that Grindelwald, with his habit of kicking people to the side once they’re no use to him, will be even worse for them.  There’s already so much suffering in the world, and Newt knows that he’ll do everything he can to stop Grindelwald creating more.  He thinks of Tina, and dares to hope that one day he’ll see a world he wants to bring children into.

Yusuf Kama stares at Grindelwald and sees someone just like the man who ripped his family apart.  He has not managed to kill the one thing Lestrange ever loved, but he will do everything he can to kill this man, who is so full of the same arrogance and entitlement.  He thinks of the last time he saw his mother, of the grief and rage that swallowed his father, and hopes this will be enough to put their memories to rest.

Leta wishes she thought Grindelwald was lying when he said he was doing this for love, but she knows better than most the terrible things people will do for it.  Her father sent her brother across the ocean.  Kama has dedicated his life to killing someone he never met.  And Leta herself doomed Corvus to a watery grave, just because she wanted a scrap of attention from her father.  Leta lets her hand fall from Grindelwald’s, and thinks she would rather die than watch anyone else twist love into something terrible.

**Author's Note:**

> By rights Theseus should have a section here too, but I do not feel like I know (or care tbh) enough about him to make a guess at his motivations.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment, even if it's just to chat about the movie!


End file.
